25 replies to this topic

[Jay]

Having a few hours to kill last night, I finally went about determining what music is being played inside of the Bou-Tiki gift shop at Disney's Polynesian Resort.

Wandering around the shop for hours, scribbling into a notebook, I was not exactly inconspicuous. Some 105 minutes in, curiosity got the best of the manager, and she finally had to ask, "Can I help you with something, sir?!" I pointed to a speaker in the ceiling, showed her the pages in my notebook, and went about assuring her that I was merely a harmless nut.

When Bou-Tiki first opened, CDs were played inside of the store, so it is possible that there were additional tracks or that the tracks were played in a different order. Now, however, the music is no longer under their control. I believe the Magic Kingdom Resorts are now getting their music loops piped to them from a location inside of the Magic Kingdom (DACS?).

I cannot be certain where the Bou-Tiki loop begins and ends, but Aloha 'Oe ("...until we meet again") makes the most sense for an ending. However, that would probably be giving too much credit to the person who put this loop together. Let's not forget about the alphabetical order for tracks played at Disney's Animal Kingdom Lodge!

Disney's Polynesian Resort
Bou-Tiki Background Music

Contents removed due to unauthorized use by Ricky Brigante/ParkTunes.

[Horizons]

Excellent!  One item to take off my to do list.  I had several conversations with managers at the Poly asking for assistance with getting track listings for the various BGMs.  Of course, after two months of going back and forth, I ended up with nothing ("Sir, we can't find anyone who has that information...").

A few questions:

(1)  Is the music played in O'hana the same as that played in the lobby or exterior?  My initial impression is that it's not the same.

(2)  Do you know the track listing for the exterior / lobby BGM?

(3)  Have you been able to make playlists for all of the Animal Kingdom Lodge area BGMs (three that I know of, plus the Arusha Rock BGM).  If so, do you mind posting the lists?

Thanks again!

[Jay]

Sir, we can't find anyone who has that information.

[Jay]

Horizons, on 24 April 2008 - 01:01 PM, said:

Is the music played in O'hana the same as that played in the lobby or exterior?

Shoot! Now you ask! I had dinner at 'Ohana last week. I'll give a listen tonight...

Horizons, on 24 April 2008 - 01:01 PM, said:

Do you know the track listing for the exterior / lobby BGM?

I am still working with the induction recording that I did. I was given a number of CD titles by someone at the Poly, but it turns out only 3-4 tracks matched. I am thinking about sending the rest of the tracks to a radio station in Hawai'i for help with identification.

Horizons, on 24 April 2008 - 01:01 PM, said:

Have you been able to make playlists for all of the Animal Kingdom Lodge area BGMs (three that I know of, plus the Arusha Rock BGM).

The playlist that I put together for the original April 16, 2001 entrance/lobby/pool loop is posted on Kirsten's site. I have nearly all of the songs identified for the entrance/lobby loop that played for a couple of years in the middle, and I am now working on the most recent entrance/lobby loop.

I need to get over to the AKL and make a new induction recording (I have better equipment now) for the Arusha Rock area. Identifying any of those tracks will probably be next to impossible, though.

I never got around to listening to the music in any of the AKL's restaurants.

[Horizons]

Jay, on 24 April 2008 - 01:24 PM, said:

I need to get over to the AKL and make a new induction recording (I have better equipment now) for the Arusha Rock area. Identifying any of those tracks will probably be next to impossible, though.

I was going to make one in February, as I was staying there for three nights. Of course, when I was there, the music wasn't working.

I was thinking of capturing it this weekend, along with the current Magic Kingdom entrance music and monorail spiels. If I do, I'll let you know.

[Jay]

Horizons, on 24 April 2008 - 01:48 PM, said:

I was thinking of capturing it this weekend

Man, we are weird!

Here's an idea. You and I should go together. We'll dress so that we look like some kind of Disney repair people. We'll take apart one of the outdoor speakers and hook directly into the wiring. No need for a crummy induction recording that needs cleaning up in Audition!

What we really need to do is find out the names of the people who are actually putting together the music loops in the first place. How hard can it be?

[Horizons]

Jay, on 24 April 2008 - 02:00 PM, said:

We'll take apart one of the outdoor speakers and hook directly into the wiring.

This technique was actually done on a few recordings that recently surfaced, the results came out really nice, although I'm not sure how much better than a real clean induction recording.

Jay, on 24 April 2008 - 02:00 PM, said:

What we really need to do is find out the names of the people who are actually putting together the music loops in the first place. How hard can it be?

Well, I have tried on and off for the past 14 months looking for someone that knows this information. I am still looking...

[Jay]

Horizons, on 24 April 2008 - 02:05 PM, said:

This technique was actually done on a few recordings that recently surfaced

Any idea as to who and how?

Horizons, on 24 April 2008 - 02:05 PM, said:

I have tried on and off for the past 14 months looking for someone that knows this information.

Here's a technique we could try. 1) Get the name of the hotel or area manager for the loop that we are interested in. 2) Start making calls, using his/her name, in a desperate attempt to get the loop swapped out for something new before all of our employees start refusing to come to work. Hopefully, we will eventually be connected to the right person.

[almandot]

I imagine that for hotels some imagineer just sifts through a library of stuff that would be available by selecting a couple of genres or moods they like and then just picks song selections they notice, listen to, and like.


Here's a question for randy though if he happens to be reading it... does Disney save any money at all by selecting a song from say, a lilo & stitch cd, instead of grabbing a needle drop? One would have no upfront fee but require royalties and the other would have an upfront fee without royalties wouldn't it? or would the lilo & stitch track have both.

[Horizons]

Jay, on 24 April 2008 - 02:17 PM, said:

Horizons, on 24 April 2008 - 02:05 PM, said:

This technique was actually done on a few recordings that recently surfaced

Any idea as to who and how?

Check your pms.

One thing I noticed at the Wilderness Lodge, the pool music, at least back in November, was on some sort of shuffle mode. I stopped after I heard two songs that I recalled when I started. However, when I reviewed the recording, I noticed that songs were repeating in very short order, sometimes within two songs. So I went back and did another 2 1/2 hours. Again, the sequence was all different. No idea if I have all of the tracks, but maybe it doesn't matter since the music is horrible. I am hoping it was a "temporary" loop and something decent is playing now.

Have you noticed the shuffle effect anywhere else?

[Jay]

Horizons, on 24 April 2008 - 04:05 PM, said:

Have you noticed the shuffle effect anywhere else?

Not really. I was at the Poly again tonight and I can confirm that the Bou-Tiki tracks listed above were all playing in the exact same order. I identified the artist for Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah, just a few more tracks left to go.

I wandered into 'Ohana, and, guess what? No music playing tonight.

[Horizons]

Jay, on 24 April 2008 - 11:54 PM, said:

I wandered into 'Ohana, and, guess what? No music playing tonight.

That's what usually happens to me when I specifically go do to something.

[Jay]

Gonna try 'Ohana again tonight...

[Horizons]

I will most likely be making a stop at Animal Kingdom Lodge later this afternoon...

[Horizons]

Nope, didn't make it.  Hopefully POTW will have better luck going to O'hana.

[Jay]

I am finished with the Bou-Tiki Background Music Loop. My original post has been updated to show the changes/corrections. It turns out what I thought was the third instance of Under the Sea was actually the second instance of Part of Your World. Hey, close.

I can confirm that the same background music loop (which I am still working to identify with the help of an induction recording that I made several years ago) is playing inside the Great Ceremonial House, at Captain Cook's Snack Company, the bathrooms just outside of Captain Cook's, and outside around the Nanea pool area, etc. I do not believe there is separate music for Trader Jack's, Samoa Snacks, and Kona Cafe on the second level of the Great Ceremonial House, and there are no speakers in the bathrooms outside of 'Ohana.

Unfortunately, I did not hear any music inside of 'Ohana, again, tonight. They spend a heck of a lot of time with live entertainment in the evenings, so I am wondering just how much background music gets played in 'Ohana. I will have to try breakfast some day soon.

[Horizons]

Thanks for completing the list. 

Do you know how many different area BGMs have played at the Poly since it opened?

[Jay]

Horizons, on 27 April 2008 - 05:53 AM, said:

Do you know how many different area BGMs have played at the Poly since it opened?

Sir, we can't find anyone who has that information.

[Horizons]

That's what I was afraid of.

[angiehashemi]

I wish I would have known that you guys were looking for Animal Kingdom Lodge BGM. We were there on Thursday 4/24 and did a lot of walking around, since I had never been to the Lodge before. We ate at Jiko's that night. I had bought a Disney Cookbook and asked the chef to autograph it for me. He came out and talked to us at our table for quite some time. I would have asked him about the music if I had known you were looking for the list. By the way, the food at Jiko's was wonderful! I recall hearing some music in the restaurant, but not sure what it was. I did buy two CD's there in the gift shop with African music that are great, but I am not sure that any of the music from the CD's were playing there. Since I only go once a year, I don't know that I can be of much help now. I am interested in what you find out though. Good Luck!